Ukrainian parliament ratifies Nicosia Convention to protect cultural heritage
Pravda Ukraine
Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) ratified the Council of Europe’s Nicosia Convention on Offences Relating to Cultural Property on 25 February.
Source: Interfax-Ukraine
Details: The law (No. 0297) was supported by 251 MPs. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy submitted the document for ratification in December 2024. The convention criminalises acts related to the destruction of cultural heritage and theft of cultural artefacts.
Alongside the ratification, the parliament amended several laws, including those on the export, import and return of cultural property, on culture and on e-commerce.
The Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications noted that Ukraine is now the eighth country in the world to ratify the Nicosia Convention and the first to do so during a full-scale war.
About the Nicosia Convention
The Council of Europe’s Nicosia Convention on Offences Relating to Cultural Property was adopted on 3 May 2017 in Nicosia, Cyprus. Ukraine signed it on 11 September of the same year.
The convention establishes a legal framework for prosecuting crimes related to cultural property, including theft, illegal excavation and removal, and intentional destruction of cultural sites. It also provides a legal basis for extradition and international legal assistance to facilitate the return of stolen artefacts.
In 2022, the Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy recommended that the Cabinet of Ministers complete the ratification process.
“The Nicosia Convention will serve as a legal tool to hold the aggressor accountable for related crimes and to return stolen cultural artefacts to Ukraine. Additionally, Ukraine will gain a legal basis to remove such items from illicit sales and combat cultural property smuggling,” said Evheniia Kravchuk, Deputy Head of the Committee.
Ratification of the convention was also among the recommendations of the PACE resolution Countering the Erasure of Cultural Identity in War and Peace.
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